Fortis (TSE:FTS) Stock Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s share price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$59.85 and traded as high as C$61.91. Fortis shares last traded at C$60.98, with a volume of 1,601,934 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$63.00 to C$64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$60.89.

Fortis Trading Down 0.8 %

The stock has a market cap of C$30.20 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$60.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$59.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C$0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.81 by C$0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 7.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In other news, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch acquired 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$61.41 per share, for a total transaction of C$27,634.59. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$27,634.59. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total value of C$1,334,543.75. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona’s Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.